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Trump Again Floats Federal Intervention On Chicago Crime; Axios: Paxton Privately Blames Woes On Iran War, Gas Prices; Dozens Quarantined After Worker At Russian Plague Lab Dies. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired October 07, 2026 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[07:31:10]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is once again zeroing in on the city of Chicago months after the Supreme Court, you'll remember, rejected his bid to deploy the National Guard there.

And the president is now posting this. "Chicago, he writes, is suffering an unprecedented and particularly violent crime wave that is getting worse by the day," the president says. He also says, "The federal government can extinguish it quickly and completely, but the mayor of Chicago, or the governor of Illinois, must ask for our help. What is wrong with them? Why aren't they asking?"

The president saying that despite data coming from Chicago police saying that there's been a drop in violent crime in Chicago this year.

And joining me right now is the mayor of Chicago, Brandon Johnson for more on this. Mayor, thanks for being here.

Could you use more federal help in response to the president there?

MAYOR BRANDON JOHNSON, (D) CHICAGO: Well, first of all, we are experiencing historic lows in violence in the city of Chicago. Last year it was double digits and we have sustained that. It's the top priority for me as mayor, as mayors across this country.

If the federal government was sincere about helping cities like the city of Chicago, the Trump administration would not have eliminated over $800 million away from violence prevention. He cut the ATF budget by 30 percent. The ATF has worked in tandem with my local police department to remove illegal weapons off the streets of Chicago. The only thing that's getting worse is the presidency of Donald Trump.

BOLDUAN: But with -- to the president's offer, are you considering asking for assistance now?

JOHNSON: Well, as I said, he could return the $800 million that he took away from violence reduction.

We have individuals who are CVI workers -- community violence intervention workers. These are individuals who have been justice involved, traumatized in their communities, retraumatized by the penal system. But somehow, by God's grace, they have come out of prison, and they are returning back to the very communities in which they wreaked havoc in and have provided support. Where CVI is present, we've seen a reduction as high as 45 percent to 50 percent.

If the president was sincere about reducing violence across America, why would he eliminate the Office of Gun Violence Reduction, which I've instituted the Office of Gun Violence Reduction?

He can help by funding our schools. He can help by investing in young people. I've invested hundreds of millions of dollars into youth employment. We have hired more young people in the last three years than my predecessors combined. And where we have seen an increase in youth employment is where we've seen a reduction in violence.

BOLDUAN: Mayor --

JOHNSON: And so the federal government has an opportunity to invest in cities.

BOLDUAN: But to my question, what I'm taking is you are not going to be asking for anything different now in light of what the president would say is an offer.

JOHNSON: Well, first of all, violence is going down in the city of Chicago.

What I am saying is I am asking the president of the United States of America to restore the over $800 million that he took that should have been used for violence reduction. He can do that today. I'm asking the president to restore the budget for ATF to help remove illegal weapons off the streets of Chicago.

Last year, we had a reduction in homicides at 28 percent. Robberies were down almost 35 percent. Vehicular hijackings were down almost 50 percent. We're doing the work in Chicago. It's the reason why we had an historic low in homicides. We haven't had this level of reduction since 1965. Not a single homicide over the Memorial Day weekend. We have experienced the safest summer in over 60 years.

[07:35:00]

The president can help the city of Chicago by investing the $800 million to support our CVI workers. He can help the city of Chicago by restoring the budget for ATF. I've removed over 9,000 illegal weapons off the streets of Chicago.

The president of the United States of America took those resources away. He's defunding ATF. He's defunded CVI. This president is not serious.

I live this experience every single day.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

JOHNSON: Instead of hiding behind a computer and tweeting, he can actually invest in the things that work.

Where we have seen an increase in youth employment, we have seen a reduction in violence. This president is not serious about making sure that the city of Chicago and cities across America, like Baltimore, like Birmingham, like Oakland, like Milwaukee -- if he was serious about investing in the people in this country, he would invest in the programs that the federal government has taken away from us.

Do the things that work, get off of the backs of working people, and instead of ensuring that the largest upward transfer of wealth going into the hands of corporations at the expense of health care, housing, transportation, good-paying jobs, and health care. If he was serious about restoring protections --

BOLDUAN: Mayor --

JOHNSON: -- for working people across this country, he would invest in the people of Chicago. That's what I'm doing in the city of Chicago. That's what the federal government can do for the city of Chicago.

BOLDUAN: There was the tragic death of a little 7-year-old girl this weekend in Chicago. A woman -- a woman has now been charged with murder for allegedly stabbing her to death as she was just walking along a sidewalk.

And I say that because that has brought out some critics. You have critics of your tenure as mayor as you are now running for re- election. One of your longtime critics has talked about what happened this weekend -- this little girl who was killed and said -- and I want to play for you what he said. He's the president of Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN CATANZARA, PRESIDENT, CHICAGO FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE: Well, the reality is he can take all the credit that he wants, but he doesn't deserve it. This is a national trend where homicides are down. What's changed in the last two years -- i.e. President Trump. And along with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office here in Chicago, has done a much better job at prosecuting violent offenders than the predecessor, Kim Fox, did. So he needs to steal all the thunder he possibly can to justify running.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Mayor, what do you say to that?

JOHNSON: Well, first of all, this is an absolute tragedy, and my condolences to the family. I spoke with the mother just yesterday. I spoke with her daughter who was walking with her baby sister. And this tragedy is something that has shaken the soul of our city. And every time a life is lost, and particularly a young person's life, this is especially tragic. As someone who is raising a family in Chicago, a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old, and I have an 18-year-old in college -- as a father, this is excruciating and unimaginable pain.

And it's why what I said to you before, investing in the programs and the things that work is how we continue to drive violence down.

I've reopened three mental health clinics, right? That hasn't happened in almost 40 years in the city of Chicago. The President of the United States of America is defunding mental health services.

You know, there are no excuses for this president and this administration. It's going to take all of us to ensure that we're investing in the public good, you know, so that tragedies like this do not become normalized in any way, any form, or any shape.

And again, as a former public school teacher, lives have been disrupted. There's a classmate that's now missing from the room. That's an awful pain to bear.

But again, my responsibility, of course, is to do the things that work and investing in mental health care. We've expanded the care program where crisis assistance is able to show up on scenes where mental health crises matters occur. I've instituted the first tax in the country on big tech companies to go directly towards mental and behavioral health care. There's no mayor that this city has experienced over the last 40 years that has given more attention to mental and behavioral health, the well-being of our children, and of course the well-being of our families.

And so we're going to continue to pray for the family, but we're also going to make sure that we push the federal government to make the necessary investments in our cities so that tragedies like these do not become normalized in any way.

BOLDUAN: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, thank you for coming in this morning -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, today the president heads to Texas again, where one of his top allies, Republican Senate candidate Ken Paxton, is struggling in the polls against the Democratic candidate, James Talarico.

[07:40:00]

There's audio newly obtained by Axios showing that Paxton is privately blaming the war in Iran and gas prices for dragging down his campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN PAXTON, (R) TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: The war, it's gas prices, it's diesel. So many of the factors in this federal race are uncontrollable. I don't make the decisions. And I don't -- you know, I don't know what good -- I don't know what's behind some of the decisions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: "I don't know what's behind some of the decisions."

With us now, Francesca Chambers, White House correspondent for USA Today, and congressional reporter for Axios, Kate Santaliz. Kate, I just want to start with you here. How uncomfortable is this

getting, do you think, between the Paxton people in Texas and the White House? Because Paxton basically keeps on saying my problem is them. And if you talk to national Republicans, they say our problem in the Senate is Ken Paxton.

KATE SANTALIZ, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, AXIOS (via Webex by Cisco): Right. I mean, I think what's really striking here is how candid he was about how bad the environment is for Republicans right now and the fact that he blames this administration for that bad environment.

You know, obviously Paxton is a close ally of President Trump. Like you mentioned, they'll be campaigning together today in Texas, and these leaked audios are not really looking good for him and his relationship with the White House and with Senate Republicans. You know, admitting to donors that the Iran war is the biggest drag on his campaign and that he doesn't understand the decisions that are being made in Washington about this and how they're impacting affordability is not a great look for him.

And this isn't the first time that we've heard him, you know, privately vent frustration from this event. You know, The New York Times just a week ago also obtained audio where he said that the midterm convention was a drag on Republicans across the -- across the country and that it didn't help them there.

So we'll see what happens today with Texas -- in Texas with President Trump and Ken Paxton and if Trump addresses this at all.

BERMAN: Yeah, we will see because Francesca, I mean, the president has basically called Ken Paxton funny looking, among other things here. This relationship, which seemed very strong a year or two years ago, seems increasingly fraught.

FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, USA TODAY: Look, the reality of the situation is, John, that this is a must-win seat for Republicans. If Republicans are losing the Texas Senate seat, then that probably means they're having a pretty bad night elsewhere across the map in House races and Senate races across the country. And so in order to keep control of the United States Senate, this is a seat that they absolutely have to win.

If you look at the Senate ratings and how they've changed over just the last few weeks -- how many toss ups there are now -- most of those seats that are currently held by Republicans -- in order to keep the Senate, this is something Republicans have to win. And so the question for the White House is how much distance does President Trump really want to put between himself and Ken Paxton in this very difficult environment for Republicans?

BERMAN: So, Francesca, we saw something unusual over the last 24 hours, which is the president reversing himself, or seeming to, on something when he said that the federal government was no longer going to pay for these campaign style ads that had been airing across the country and for which more than $10 million apparently had already been spent. He said his super PAC -- he actually directed his super PAC to start paying for them, and that's questionable in terms of legality as well. But yesterday the White House made clear that while the government would not pay for the ads going forward, they were not going to reimburse the government for the $10 million they already spent.

And I do wonder, does this make it less of a reversal? And does -- how much are Republicans going to have to deal with more questions about this now that the White House has left the door open?

CHAMBERS: Well, the White House, as you're noting, being clear that this only applies to the policy moving forward for these advertisements, which they have a new one up in the last two days here.

John, what actually I thought was very interesting about the new ad is that it shows Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in it. It focuses on national security. Hegseth has campaigned for Republicans already this cycle. He was at the midterm convention. So was Todd Blanche. There are -- you know, there are -- sorry, at least Todd Blanche was there. There are other Republicans who have been cabinet members who have been out there campaigning too.

But Secretary of State Marco Rubio is someone who has distanced himself from these midterm conventions. He wasn't even in the country at the time. He's not even in the country currently. He has tried to distance himself from domestic politics, including a potential 2028 run, not just the midterms. So to see him in the ad, which he has said that that's not his role, was a little bit striking even if the White House is claiming that they're not campaign ads.

BERMAN: And Kate, just to be clear, you know, the statement from the White House was "The president's Truth..." -- and that was where the president said that the government won't be paying it for it anymore -- "...was not referring to reimbursement.

[07:45:00]

Hey Kate, you've got your ear, you know, to the ground in Congress where so many Republicans are fighting tough re-election battles. We've been talking to Republicans. They really were not pleased about this government spending on these ads. They knew it would create political problems for them. One does have to wonder if the non- reimbursement just makes that problem linger.

SANTALIZ: Yeah. I mean, I think that this non-reimbursement -- the reimbursement -- or non-reimbursement was in response to some of the criticism that we've seen from Republicans. I mean, we even saw the top Senate leader in the Senate, John Thune, say that he's not supportive of using taxpayer dollars for these ads. So the White House had to do something here to quell some of this concern that we were hearing from members of Congress in his own party and walk back some of this.

But I think that we can expect to still hear a little bit more criticism about the millions of dollars of taxpayer funds that have been spent on these ads. But I think a lot of Republicans will be happy to hear that there won't be any more of those ads coming.

BERMAN: Kate Santaliz, good to talk to you. Francesca Chambers, always nice to see you. Thank you all so much for being with us.

There are a lot of questions about the midterms, and if you have questions about what it's like to be on the inside of a campaign in a tough race like this, join us tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern for "OFFICE HOURS." The swinging music will be part of it. I'm going to be joined by insiders Alyssa Farah Griffin, who was a communications director for President Trump in the first term, and Chuck Rocha, who is helping James Talarico in his campaign in Texas. Ask them anything about what it's like to run a campaign like this at cnn.com/officehours at 7:00. Right? I just want to listen to the music, Kate.

BOLDUAN: No, I'm just saying, and those two people definitely not into having fun or having a great chat.

BERMAN: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: So tonight's going to be a lively one.

BERMAN: Right.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, the Trump administration is now raising new concern over the death of a Russian researcher working at a laboratory that was studying the plague. President Trump says that he has -- he has a call scheduled with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, very soon about it, though the Kremlin says that no such plans have been made.

The agency overseeing infectious disease in Russia has been downplaying any connection between this woman's death and her work. But CNN has learned that the Russian government has quarantined the people who worked with her and the hospital where she was treated.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen tracking this and he's joining us now on this. So, Fred, what is the latest here?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Kate.

Well, those quarantine measures are still in place. And one of the things that that agency has said, which is there to combat infectious diseases, is that these are pretty elaborate quarantine measures that have been put in place. You're absolutely right to point out, obviously, that the hospital where this lab technician died -- this female lab technician -- obviously is under quarantine, meaning no one is allowed out of that hospital, but also no new admissions are being allowed in.

But CNN was also actually able to speak to some people at other hospitals in that area, including a maternity ward. And one of the women who was on that maternity ward said, first of all, none of her relatives were allowed to see her. She also said that there was a questionnaire that she was told to fill out asking about infectious diseases, including the plague. There were also health checks. Her tongue, she says, was checked and she was told to wear a mask as well.

And so certainly those measures that are in place do seem to be quite elaborate by the Russians. The Russians are saying that that is out of an abundance of caution. They also say that so far, no plague has been discovered in any samples from that lab technician who died.

Quite interesting though to hear that it's not just the U.S. that's asking for more information from the Russians. The World Health Organization has actually also come out very publicly on their X account and said that they would -- said they're requesting more information also about a possible second case of a second infection which they read about on Russian media. And so they're not even getting that information straight from the Russians.

You mentioned the fact that President Trump said he had a call with the Russians scheduled soon. The Russians are saying nothing is scheduled, even though Vladimir Putin, of course, expecting a lot of calls today because it is also Vladimir Putin's 74th birthday on this day as well, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, Fred. A whole lot going on there, Fred, including that concerns are only growing around this very mysterious death. Fred Pleitgen -- you're the best, Fred. Thank you so much.

So right now a tropical storm in the Gulf is primed to rapidly strengthen is how it's being described in the coming days and could soon be the first big hurricane of the season. Tropical Storm Isaias formed off the coast of Mexico. It's currently on track, aimed straight towards the northern Gulf Coast. It could peak as a category two hurricane by Thursday or early Friday. For now, the storm has sustained winds of 40 miles an hour and is -- and is located about 600 miles off the Gulf Coast, but something we are watching very closely this week.

Also ahead, nearly a dozen people are hurt in a hayride crash. A teenager is said to be in critical condition. What we know now about what caused this and what happened here.

And also there's new video showing the moment a dog is rescued after falling into a huge sinkhole.

[07:50:00]

For more of the stories you need to get your day going, you can go to my show, "5 THINGS WITH KATE BOLDUAN." It is always streaming on the CNN app and CNN All Access right now and every morning.

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BERMAN: This morning, a new report on how President Trump's tariffs have affected prices for most Americans. Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan for the latest on this. So up or down?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Up. Look, John, prices were going down and then the president's tariffs came along. That's one of the big takeaways from this new research from the New York Fed. [07:55:00]

So they looked at the impact of the president's tariffs, which started kicking in early last year on the prices that we're all paying at the store. And they found that by February of this year, consumers goods prices were up by two percent year-over-year. Now that might not sound like much, but that is unusual because before COVID prices were down. And they actually found that if there were no tariffs then consumer prices would have been down almost one percent. So that's quite the difference here, right? Up with tariffs, down without them.

And look at this visual that helps explain this. So the red line shows how much prices on consumer goods were going up. And you can see that four, 4 1/2 years ago there was this historic inflation, right? That was the COVID reopening. That was Russia, Ukraine, excessive stimulus, et cetera. But then it came all the way down and by the president -- by the time the president took office, prices were actually going down a little bit. And then you can see that as the tariffs kicked in, they started going back up.

Now, the blue line is a counterfactual. What if there were no tariffs? And again, you can see that without tariffs, prices would have been coming down.

Now the president would argue that this is a small price to pay because he believes that his tariffs have helped reshore jobs. They've encouraged other countries to invest in the U.S. He's used tariffs to try to address immigration and the illicit flow of drugs.

However, we can debate how true those claims are, but what's clear is that that's not what voters were looking for, right? They were voting on the cost of living. And poll after poll shows that Americans give the president really low marks on the economy in general, on tariffs, and inflation in particular.

So how exactly are tariffs making things more expensive? Well, some of this is obvious, right? Two-thirds of the impact the New York Fed found is just from imports because tariffs are slapped on imports. It's naturally making them more expensive.

But what's really interesting is they found that a whole one-third of the impact on consumer prices is actually from stuff that's made in America. And that's for two reasons. One, because companies, when they're making stuff in the United States, they're often using imported goods to do that. The obvious example is a car company, right, that's using steel that's sometimes imported. It's going to make the car more expensive. The other issue here is that sometimes when U.S. companies, when U.S. producers -- they see that their rivals are raising prices, they do so as well.

So you put it together and both U.S.-made goods and foreign goods are making things more expensive.

So look, all of this hopefully as to some of the understanding of how the president's tariffs work, and this research finds that it made prices go back up. BERMAN: The fact is inflation is up since the president took office.

EGAN: It is.

BERMAN: Matt Egan, thank you very much --

EGAN: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: -- for that -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: A teenager is in critical condition right now after a hayride crash in Wellsburg, NY. In all, 11 people were hurt, including the driver on that hayride. A youth group had organized this ride after their Sunday church services. Passengers apparently noticed that the brakes started smoking and the driver appeared to be struggling with mechanical issues, and then the crash. Investigators say one brake looked discolored and overheated, so right now they believe it was caused by a brake failure. But my goodness, how horrible is that?

Also, a southern Indiana courthouse lawn got some new landscaping, probably not intentionally, courtesy of an alleged drunk driver. Surveillance video from the Jennings County Sheriff's Office shows a car spinning donuts across the grass, kicking up -- well, you see what it's -- what it's doing. Deputies arrested the 68-year-old woman for a DUI, among other charges now that she is facing. The sheriff's office has some advice. They apparently said if you've had a few too many -- did they really say this? If you've had a few too many margaritas with dinner, don't drive, and definitely don't do donuts on the courthouse lawn -- John.

BERMAN: Yeah, not on the courthouse lawn. Good advice for all of us, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

BERMAN: Thank you very much.

All right, the low-budget Dodgers pushing teams to the brink in the playoffs. Let's get right to CNN's Coy Wire for the latest on this. Those Dodgers, they can't catch a break, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yeah, the second-highest payroll in baseball. October has a funny way of revealing who was built for the big stage, and the Dodgers have a roster full of those guys. October baseball gave us aces, homers, broken bats. Sports were sporting last night.

Dodgers, Braves, heavyweight pitching matchup here. Chris Sale versus reigning World Series MVP Yamamoto, and Yoshinobu was filthy. Career postseason high, 10 strikeouts, seven innings, just four hits and a walk. And in the fourth inning, Mr. October, Kiki Hernandez, first start of the postseason gone. A two-run shot.

And then Freddie Freeman back in Atlanta against his former team. He heard the fans' boos. He said boom, that's all L.A. needed. A 3-1 win a 2-1 series lead. They can punch their ticket to the NLCS with a win today.

Now Padres, Brewers and San Diego star closer Mason Miller placed on paternity list just 45 minutes before first pitch. But don't worry, the Padres or shall we say fathers still deliver. Up 3-2 in the sixth and Miguel Andujar breaks his back. Look out. A barrel goes flying towards the shortstop Cooper Pratt who fields the ball and airmails the throw. Xander Bogaerts scores that run that proves huge.